@dan_springer, by all means stay with your dealer. Before you buy anything I think you should learn as much as you can about the physics of playing a record. There are also some quirks with the market you should understand. One good one is the pricing of cartridges. Audiophiles will pay more for a moving coil cartridge. The manufacturers respond to this by charging more for moving coil cartridges, much more. Below about $2000 you will get more performance from high output cartridges. Moving Iron cartridges in particular such as Soundsmith and Grado cartridges are fine performers. I suggest you watch this video it is a great primer on turntable and tonearm design. Just keep in mind that with high performance cartridges anti skating is mandatory.
Turntables primary function is to play records, not to look cool or impress the neighbors. I would not mind getting a list of all the turntables and cartridges your dealer carries. I would be happy to comment their design if you like.e